A mineralogical model for density and elasticity of the Earth's mantle

Abstract

We present a thermodynamic model of high-pressure mineralogy that allows the evaluation of phase stability and physical properties for the Earth's mantle. The thermodynamic model is built from previous assessments and experiments in the five-component CFMAS system (CaO-FeO-MgO-Al2O 3-SiO2), including mineral phases that occur close to typical chemical models of the mantle and reasonable mantle temperatures. In this system we have performed a system Gibbs free energy minimization, including pure end-member phases and a nonideal formulation for solid solutions. Solid solutions were subdivided into discrete pseudocompounds and treated as stoichiometric phases during computation of chemical equilibrium by the simplex method. We have complemented the thermodynamic model with a model of shear wave properties to obtain a full description of aggregate elastic properties (density, bulk, and shear moduli) that provide a useful basis for the consideration of seismic and geodynamic models of the Earth's mantle. The thermodynamic model described here is made available for research and training purposes through a Web interface (http://www.earthmodel.org). We examine its validity in light of experiments from mineral physics and briefly discuss inferences for mantle structure. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.